February 21, 2018

Dear Members of the Connecticut College Community,

I am pleased to announce that Jazmine Hughes '12, associate editor for The New York Times Magazine, will deliver the keynote address at our 100th Commencement on May 20, 2018.

Ms. Hughes has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Elle, Gawker and The New Republic. She's also an activist who is pushing the boundaries of the publishing establishment. As a co-creator of Writers of Color, she helped develop a database to introduce assignment editors to a much more diverse array of writers. For these accomplishments, Hughes was named to the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list—what has been called an annual "encyclopedia of creative disruption." You can read more about Hughes in the current issue of CC Magazine.

As part of the ceremony, the College will confer on Hughes an honorary degree—a doctor of humane letters honoris causa—an award that reflects not only her achievements as a journalist but also her ongoing personal commitment to the values that animate this community: excellence, integrity, and justice. Hughes will be the youngest ever recipient of an honorary doctorate from this College.

From its founding at the turn of the 20th century as the only college in the state dedicated solely to providing higher education for women, Connecticut College has continually embraced the principles of equity and inclusion as part of its distinctive moral framework. The College's uniquely progressive vision of higher learning has continued to produce graduates prepared not just to make a living but to make a difference. In this year of our 100th Commencement, I am proud that we will have the opportunity to hear from a young alumna and activist who is following in the tradition of our founding principles. She lives the College's mission of putting the liberal arts into action.

I want to thank the Commencement committee—co-chairs Bonnie Wells and Shaniqua Shaw '18, Marc Forster, College Marshal & Henry B. Plant Professor of History and Director of CISLA, Terry-Ann Craigie, Lenore Tingle Howard '42 Assistant Professor of Economics, Deb MacDonnell, Director of Public Relations, Matt Glasz, Director of Annual Giving, Aidan Cort '18, Patrick Farrell '18, Hannah Johnston '18 and Yoldas Yildiz '18.

I know you will be as pleased as I am to welcome Hughes in May as our 100th Commencement speaker.

Yours,
 
Katherine Bergeron
President